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Pot deaths rise 100% in Colorado

Renae

Renae

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DENVER - A study out this month finds the number of people killed in marijuana-related accidents in Colorado has increased 100 percent over five years.The report comes from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, a drug prohibition group that brings together federal and local law enforcement.
It says that in 2012 there were 78 fatalities where someone involved in the accident (a driver, bike rider, pedestrian) tested positive for marijuana, compared to 39 in 2007.
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Study finds 100 percent increase in fatal pot-related crashes in Colorado - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com
What a shock.
 
Does not mean they were high while the accident occurred, or that marijuana prohibition laws are a good idea.
 
MrVicchio said:
Study finds 100 percent increase in fatal pot-related crashes in Colorado - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com
What a shock.
Click to expand...

And yet it is still a tiny fraction of the number of alcohol related deaths. Impaired driving should always be illegal, regardless of the drug or substance. There's no reason for responsible, private use to be criminalized. And as Your Star pointed out, a blood test for marijuana only says that the person smoked within the last month, not that they were high while driving.
 
Your Star said:
Does not mean they were high while the accident occurred, or that marijuana prohibition laws are a good idea.
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Yeah, sure, legalized, deaths go up.. no link. NOT at all.

Good god you people make me ill.
 
MrVicchio said:
Good god you people make me ill.
Click to expand...

107416-full-throttle-randomly-feels-like-brakes-were-applied-not-sure-why-tropic-thunder-what-do-you-mean-jpg
 
Your Star said:
Does not mean they were high while the accident occurred, or that marijuana prohibition laws are a good idea.
Click to expand...

All things considered, you had better hope that. Trying to avoid any correlation between a doubling of traffic deaths, and Colorado's legalizing will only last so long if the trend continues.
 
I could see it now, the coroner's report stated the victim had orange Dorito fingers,
likely contributing to the crash! :mrgreen:
 
MrVicchio said:
Yeah, sure, legalized, deaths go up.. no link. NOT at all.

Good god you people make me ill.
Click to expand...

Actually, your numbers say that this rise was in 2012, when pot was still illegal for recreational use. So. . . .
 
you are citing an increase between 2007 and 2012, before recreational marijuana even was legalized. I do not see the relevance.
 
MrVicchio said:
Study finds 100 percent increase in fatal pot-related crashes in Colorado - 7NEWS Denver TheDenverChannel.com
What a shock.
Click to expand...

You can test positive for pot up to a month after you use it. You probably knew that though, and whoever wrote that headline certainly knew it.
That's one reason why random drug testing (championed by conservatives) is such a disgusting invasion of people's rights and freedoms. Kim Jong-Un is considering whether he could get away with implementing it.
 
ocean515 said:
All things considered, you had better hope that. Trying to avoid any correlation between a doubling of traffic deaths, and Colorado's legalizing will only last so long if the trend continues.
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It is NOT a doubling of traffic deaths, it's a doubling of traffic deaths in which the person had smoked cannabis within a month. It's a drop in the bucket to traffic deaths as a whole.
 
Grand Mal said:
You can test positive for pot up to a month after you use it. You probably knew that though, and whoever wrote that headline certainly knew it.
That's one reason why random drug testing (championed by conservatives) is such a disgusting invasion of people's rights and freedoms. Kim Jong-Un is considering whether he could get away with implementing it.
Click to expand...

Well wait a minute - it's an invasion if the government does it only if all drugs are legal. If they're still illegal then there's a law broken. I am all for legalizing all drugs as long as there is as much of a push for education and limitations on use that may harm others. If a person wants to shoot heroin and they are not hurting or neglecting anyone but themselves, I say let them do it. Once that person cooks and shoots then gets into a vehicle or goes to work at a construction site which can put others at risk - they should be locked up NOT for using drugs but for endangering others lives. It's why I can support legalized drugs but still can support employers having rules against drug use.
 
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RabidAlpaca said:
It is NOT a doubling of traffic deaths, it's a doubling of traffic deaths in which the person had smoked cannabis within a month. It's a drop in the bucket to traffic deaths as a whole.
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Hmmm. It's not a doubling of traffic deaths where people testing positive for marijuana use, it's a doubling of traffic deaths where people tested positive for marijuana deaths, and could have injested it as much as 30 days ago, or not.

Not really sure what you're trying to point out there.

I'm just suggesting that a correlation will be hard to avoid should the trend continue. In fact, if enough people die who test positive, the whole legalization effort may backfire dramatically.
 
Did Colorado do a study or take marijuana death statistics before it was legalized?

If not, then even one death would be a 100% rise.
 
Ockham said:
Well wait a minute - it's an invasion if the government does it only if all drugs are legal. If they're still illegal then there's a law broken. I am all for legalizing all drugs as long as there is as much of a push for education and limitations on use that may harm others. If a person wants to shoot heroin and they are not hurting or neglecting anyone but themselves, I say let them do it. Once that person cooks and shoots then gets into a vehicle or goes to work at a construction site which can put others at risk - they should be locked up NOT for using drugs but for endangering others lives. It's why I can support legalized drugs but still can support employers having rules against drug use.
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I agree with you but my point was that you could have toked up at a party two weeks ago and still test positive. I'm all for prosecuting impaired driving and after almost 30 years on structural steel I'm ashamed of how many times we turned a blind eye to drunk and stoned people on the job but random drug testing is a gross infringement on my right to privacy and dignity. I was only tested once and it was humiliating- it was a coin-toss whether I'd piss in the bottle or quit the job and I hadn't smoked pot for 20 years.
Testing for pot in a venue where it's use is legal proves nothing unless you can show that the person being tested is still under the influence.
 
Moot said:
Did Colorado do a study or take marijuana death statistics before it was legalized?

If not, then even one death would be a 100% rise.
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Actually, if no deaths were attributed to pot before, one death would be like a gazillion percent rise.

I understand any perceived hint of pot restriction causes some peoples head to explode, but I haven't been suggesting that at all. All I have been commenting on is that if a trend is identified, it's going to become a big issue. Of course that depends on people being willing to actually respond to it if it is shown to be true. They may be too loaded in Colorado to notice. :cool:
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA


It says that in 2012 there were 78 fatalities where someone involved in the accident (a driver, bike rider, pedestrian) tested positive for marijuana, compared to 39 in 2007.


I bet with this wording, passengers too!

That is quite the stretch.....
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The stretch is ignoring that fact pot DOES impair judgment and morons drive while high.

That's the stretch here.
 
MrVicchio said:
The stretch is ignoring that fact pot DOES impair judgment and morons drive while high.
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No ones saying it doesn't but your extrapolating this single data point to do what exactly?

Continue to support the failed policy of prohibition?

A) The study was done a year before pot was legalized

B) pot stays in your system and can be detected a month afterwards

Your assertions have no grounds at all and again when you factor in overall road fatality issues, this is a tiny percentage.

What is your point?
 
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